What Are Big Brothers For?
by matlinsisters
Summary: Adam comes home from school covered in burns. When Audra catches him trying to self harm, the only thing she knows to do is call her older son Drew to come over. Once Drew arrives, he tries his best to cheer his little brother up but will he succeed? !TRIGGER WARNING!: Self harm


It was all too much, the feeling of having a broken heart once again because he had thought he found a girl that would finally accept him for who he was. He had no idea that she was going to turn around and tell him they were over just because she thought she was confused. And now he had done it again, as Adam sat alone at the island in the kitchen inside the Torres home the boy glanced down at his lower arms as he looked at the freshly made burn marks covering them. It was the only way he knew how to let out the pain he was feeling inside. His soft yet cool fingers traced along the new burns as he looked down at the various marks, both big and small, as he thought over everything that had happened.

"You confused me," He could almost hear as Becky's words rang loud in his thoughts. That alone made Adam want to crack and crumble as he realized he had lost her. He lost her to the sick, hateful beliefs her mother and father had passed on to her. He knew that her parents definitely were not the good Christian people they portrayed themselves to be to others around them. Adam's sapphire hues glanced down at his white lighter and the safety pin he used earlier to burn himself, as he thought about doing it once more.

Adam picked up the lighter and with a swift movement, he lit it and held the safety pin to the bright orange glow of the small flame, allowing it to get really hot before he pressed the scalding metal down onto his forearm again. "ADAM! What do you think you're doing?" Audra called out, Adam looked up to see his mother standing there as she dropped her bag by the door. Instead of answering her, Adam grabbed his stuff then took off into the living room and upstairs into his bedroom, where he locked the door behind him. Audra followed closely behind him but by the time she got upstairs he had slammed then locked his bedroom door. "Adam, sweetheart, please come back out here and tell me what's wrong! I'm not mad at you," Audra pleaded.

"GO AWAY! This doesn't concern you, mom!" Adam replied, his voice cracking as his blue eyes began to fill with tears. He didn't care that he had been caught burning himself again; he just wanted to be left alone to deal with the pain of his break up in private. He didn't want to talk to anyone about this unless it was someone he could trust. Someone that wouldn't force him to go to therapy twice a week again over something like this. It wasn't like he was burning himself all the time anymore, anyway.

Audra pulled out her cellphone then found Drew's number, she dialed the number quickly, then waited for Drew to pick up as she walked into her bedroom. "Come on, answer." She muttered, pacing back and forth across the bedroom when finally she heard Drew pick up.

"Drew, you need to come home today just for a little while," Audra asked, hoping that Drew would comply and not hang up on her.

"Why? So you can lecture me about how I have once again screwed up my life? No thanks," Drew retorted, assuming that was what his mother wanted with him.

"It's Adam. He's burning himself again and I don't know what to do for him, he won't talk to me about it and he's in his room. He would talk to you if anyone," Audra replied, practically pleading for her older son to come home. "Do this for him, please." She added.

"I'll be there in a few," Drew stated with a sigh before pressing the end button.

* * *

The whole way over to his parents' home, Drew couldn't help but to wonder if his mom was using his little brother as some type of ploy to get him there, that way he would have to deal with another one of her lectures. As he made his way through the front door then into the kitchen to find his mom, Drew approached her with his arms crossed, as he leaned against the doorway. "I swear to God, if this is one of your ploys to get me to come home I'm going to -" Drew started before getting cut off by Audra as she raised one of her hands.

"Save it, this isn't about you. Now go upstairs and talk to Adam," Audra spat. Drew then turned to walk up the stairs and decided he wasn't going to speak to his mother for the rest of the day after that. At least she wasn't lying but it still seemed like she had nothing but a bad attitude when he was around as of recent. Drew walked up the stairs slowly, he could hear Adam's music playing loudly as he approached the boy's bedroom door. Drew knocked on the door really hard causing several loud bangs as Adam turned his music down.

"GO AWAY, MOM!" Adam shouted.

"I'm not mom, dorkus, now let me in before I break the door down!" Drew threatened, though he didn't actually mean it and he didn't mean to sound so angry when he shouted back at the boy. Adam slowly approached the door, knowing Drew would see all of his freshly made burn marks and still he decided to open the door. Reaching his hand out, he twisted the golden door knob and opened it as his teary blue eyes looked up at Drew. The older Torres brother could immediately see that something was terribly wrong with Adam; just by looking at the expression on his face, he could see just how broken his brother was feeling inside. "What happened?" Drew questioned softly, giving Adam a sympathetic look.

Adam could see that his mom was coming up the steps as he noticed the movement of her shadow out of the corner of his eye. He stepped aside then let Drew in before slamming the door once more as he moved to lock it. "It's a long story, Drew," Adam replied, moving a hand to wipe away the tears from his eyes.

"I have time. Spill." Drew demanded.

"About a week ago I started dating Becky Baker, Luke's sister, and I had fallen for her as I got to know her. It seemed like she liked me, too, and she wanted us to be in a relationship. Everything was fine as long as her parents didn't know about us but then they found out because she wanted them to know. Once they learned about the fact that I'm trans, they wanted us to stop seeing each other immediately and her dad tried to tell me I needed therapy." Adam began, he could feel the rage inside building as he thought back on how Becky's dad talked to him that night. "Well, out of nowhere she tells me today that she doesn't want to be with me anymore. She said she needed therapy, to be fixed, and that I confused her then she dumped me even though I begged her to stay," Adam admitted, rambling on as he started to tear up again. He hated this, he wanted to be with Becky so bad because he had fallen so hard for her but now she was on her way back to Florida to go through brainwashing camp.

Suddenly, Drew realized just how out of the loop he really was by hearing that Adam actually had a girlfriend over the last few days. He thought carefully about what to say to Adam, he didn't want to say that the boy should have expected it because it was one of the Baker kids he was seeing, but there wasn't anything else he could think to say. "Well, you were dating the Baker girl so that's a given. Even Owen can't stand to be around Luke most of the time because he's such a - what's the word - a bigot? I think that's what he called him," Drew replied. "And you remember how Owen used to be a few years ago before Tristan came out," He added. Adam nodded his head then sighed heavily.

"Yeah, he threw me into a door. How could I forget?" Adam replied sarcastically, furrowing his brow as he remembered when Bianca ripped his shirt open then later Owen threw him into a door in the hallway. "I hate this, Drew. Sometimes I really hate how I am and sometimes I wish I were different," Adam confessed, he couldn't believe he was actually saying those words but he almost felt like life would have been much easier had he been born a boy. Drew moved to approach his little brother, he extended his arms out then motioned for him to give him a hug.

"You're going to make it through this," Drew spoke softly as Adam moved to wrap his arms around Drew. Suddenly the older Torres thought back to when they were kids and how Drew always had to be there for him. Things still hadn't changed a bit but it seemed like things were a lot better now than they were when Adam was still Gracie. "Think about it, you're really awesome and if she can give you up because her parents are brainwashing jerks then you're better off without her. One day you'll find a girl that will love you for who you are, she'll even love your flaws. You just can't go looking for that girl, she'll have to come to you." The older blue eyed boy added, his tone still soft as if he was trying to comfort Adam.

"How do you know?" Adam muttered tearfully, all he wanted was to be loved and to not have to worry about hiding who he was to anyone but it seemed that no matter what, life was going to deal him a bad hand when it came down to falling in love.

"Well, Bianca found me didn't she? She loves me even though I'm not very bright and I can be a real douche sometimes," Drew stated, smiling slightly as he thought about how lucky he was to have someone so amazing in his life. But he wanted Adam to have the same thing. "She had to find me. Every girl I dated before and after her just wasn't right for me because most of them only wanted me for one or two reasons, anyway. She takes me the way I am and I know you'll have a girl in your life that will do the same for you. Just give it time," Drew advised as he pulled away from the tight hug. He then walked over and pat the bed so Adam would join him.

"I want Becky, I don't want anyone else. I just want her, she was right for me when she didn't feel so confused by her parents," The sky blue eyed boy replied, finally the tears stopped coming and he was feeling a little bit better. He joined Drew on the bed, he sat there in silence for a few moments as he thought to himself about everything had gone on. Suddenly, he was starting to feel a little ridiculous. "Do you think she'll come back to me after she gets back from Florida?" He questioned.

Drew shrugged. "I can't answer that for you but if she's supposed to be with you, she'll come back. And she'll know she made a huge mistake by leaving you behind because of her parents," Drew responded. Suddenly he had the idea that maybe he needed to get his brother out of the house for a little while; maybe then he would be cheered up and would come home feeling a lot better about himself. "Wanna go get pizza and maybe hang out at Playdium for a bit? They have a new roller coaster simulator I have wanted to try for weeks now," Drew offered, flashing a smile at his brother. "My treat!"

Finally, Adam smiled back and nodded at Drew. "Are you sure?" He asked, the older boy nodded his head in response.

"What are big brothers for?" He asked, his grin remaining.

* * *

The two made their way downstairs to tell Audra where they were headed. "Mom! I'm taking Adam out for a little while to cheer him up. We'll be back before eight," Drew said as they found their mom in the kitchen. She looked up from the bills she was paying then raised an eyebrow at Drew.

"Did you really get him to cheer up that quick? And did I say he could go anywhere after this little fiasco?" She stated, glancing back and forth between the two boys. Adam's smile quickly faded and Drew looked to the younger Torres with a look before glaring back at his mom.

"I'm here to cheer him up, it's what I do since apparently you fail at it. Now let us go so he can have a good night and so you won't have to worry about him burning himself again, okay? Or do you want him to start again?" Drew questioned, his tone growing slightly more stern as he began to get angry at their mom.

"Fine, go on but he better be happy once he comes home tonight!" Audra replied, watching as the two boys walked towards the door. Noticing that Adam was feeling better already because he was smiling and not in tears. However, she couldn't help but to wonder what was going on and she hoped that Drew would explain things to her later that evening once she called him that night. But until then, all she could do was hope that her boys would have a good time together and that they would be safe.


End file.
